Control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a university hospital: one decade later.

Objective: To investigate the cause of increasing rates of nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection at a university hospital.

Design: Review of data collected by prospective hospital wide surveillance regarding rates of nosocomial MRSA colonization and infection.

Setting: A 700-bed university hospital providing primary and tertiary care.

Identification of Leishmania chagasi antigens recognized by human lymphocytes.

Preparative SDS-PAGE followed by electroelution was used to separate proteins of Leishmania chagasi promastigotes into 67 fractions. These fractions were tested for the ability to stimulate proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy immune donors who were treated previously for visceral leishmaniasis and from nonimmune controls. The proliferative responses elicited by these proteins varied among individuals.

The fragment R collision: W. M. Keck telescope observations of SL9.

The W. M. Keck telescope was used to observe the impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) fragment R at a wavelength of 2.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission rates in a sanatorium: implications for new preventive guidelines.

Background: In 1990, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended substituting dust-mist particulate respirators for simple isolation masks in acid-fast bacillus isolation rooms, reasoning that air leaks around the simple masks could result in a higher rate of purified protein derivative skin-test conversion. In 1993, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention draft guideline proposed that high-efficiency particulate air filter respirators be used instead of dust-mist particulate respirators. Epidemiologic data were not available to assess the importance of these changes or their cost-effectiveness.

An urban outbreak of visceral leishmaniasis in Natal, Brazil.

The epidemiological pattern of visceral leishmaniasis in north-eastern Brazil is changing. The disease was typically seen in rural, endemic areas, but is now occurring as an epidemic in the city of Natal where 316 cases have been reported since 1989; 49% were in children less than 5 years of age. The principle clinical and laboratory findings were weight loss, fever, hepato-splenomegaly, anaemia, leucopenia and hypergammaglobulinaemia.

Short-course therapy of catheter-related Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia: a meta-analysis.

Objective: To determine, through structured methodologic review of published articles, the effectiveness of short-course (< or = 2 weeks) antibiotic therapy for catheter-related Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

Data Sources: English-language publications on catheter-related S. aureus bacteremia identified using MEDLINE (1966 to the present) and bibliographic review of relevant articles and textbooks.

Adenovirus type 8 epidemic keratoconjunctivitis in an eye clinic: risk factors and control.

Epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC) due to adenovirus type 8 affected 126 (7%) of 1870 ophthalmology clinic patients during an outbreak. Risk factors and mode of transmission were studied by comparing cases (n = 58) and controls (n = 200) for exposure to risk factors. Pneumotonometry (odds ratio [OR], 10.

A proposed approach to regulating contaminated soil: identify safe concentrations for seven of the most frequently encountered exposure scenarios.

Since 1980, more than 10,000 sites in the United States have been shown to contain soil which has elevated concentrations of various xenobiotics. Since that time, guidelines for deciding whether the level of contamination is worthy of concern have been proposed or promulgated by dozens of local, state, and federal regulatory agencies. Unfortunately, there has been little consistency in the guidelines suggested for each soil contaminant.

Reevaluation of benzene exposure for the Pliofilm (rubberworker) cohort (1936-1976).

The Pliofilm cohort is the most intensely studied group of workers chronically exposed to benzene. Information on this cohort has been the basis for regulations and/or guidelines for occupational and environmental exposure to benzene. Rinsky et al.

The current practice of health risk assessment: potential impact on standards for toxic air contaminants.

Since the Bhopal incident, the public has placed pressure on regulatory agencies to set community exposure limits for the dozens of chemicals that may be released by manufacturing facilities. More or less objective limits can be established for the vast majority of these chemicals through the use of risk assessment. However, each step of the risk assessment process (i.

Test of cure for genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women.

Convenient, reliable tests of cure for genital chlamydial infections have not been evaluated. Cervical appearance, endocervical Gram stain, enzyme immunoassay, and culture for Chlamydia trachomatis were evaluated during a pretreatment visit and at two subsequent randomized test-of-cure visits for 64 nongravid women with endocervical C trachomatis of 3544 patients screened. There were no useful correlations between C trachomatis resolution and cervical appearance.

Decision-making ability and advance directive preferences in nursing home patients and proxies.

We studied 39 nursing home patients and proxies to assess their decision-making capability and preferences regarding advance directives (ADs) or "living wills." Most patients willingly stated preferences; over half opted to forego burdensome measures when death appeared imminent. Patients perceived as decisionally capable were more likely to forego life-sustaining measures than those of questionable capability.

Telescience at the University of California, Berkeley.

The University of California at Berkeley (UCB) is a member of a university consortium involved in telescience testbed activities under the sponsorship of NASA. Our Telescience Testbed Project consists of three experiments using flight hardware being developed for the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer project at UCB's Space Sciences Laboratory. The first one is a teleoperation experiment investigating remote instrument control using a computer network such as the Internet.

Serum phenobarbital concentration predictions by a personal computer software system.

The ability of a personal computer software system to predict actual serum phenobarbital concentrations (SPC) in outpatients taking phenobarbital chronically was assessed by comparing actual with predicted SPC for accuracy, bias, and precision. Data for a four-year period were collected on patients at an outpatient clinic's pharmacokinetic consultation service. The study group included 50 adults and children with at least one SPC taken at a known time after dose administration.

A 10-microm infrared camera.

An IR camera has been built at the University of California at Berkeley for astronomical observations. The camera has been used primarily for high angular resolution imaging at mid-IR wavelengths. It has been tested at the University of Arizona 61- and 90-in.

Potentiation of chlorinated hydrocarbon toxicity by 2,5-hexanedione in primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes.

Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes were used to investigate potentiation of halocarbon-induced hepatotoxicity by aliphatic ketones. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were pretreated with corn oil or 2,5-hexanedione (HD; 15 mmol/kg, po) in corn oil. Eighteen hours later the hepatocytes were isolated and cultured in Williams' Medium E and exposed to several concentrations of the hepatotoxicants carbon tetrachloride, chloroform, deutero-chloroform, or 1,1,2-trichloroethane.

Role of biotransformation in the potentiation of halocarbon hepatotoxicity by 2,5-hexanedione.

2,5-Hexanedione (2,5-HD) pretreatment potentiated CHCl3-induced hepatotoxicity. 2,5-HD significantly increased hepatic cytochrome P-450, NADPH cytochrome c reductase, aniline hydroxylation, p-nitroanisole O-demethylation, and aminopyrine N-demethylation in both male and female mice. 2,5-HD pretreatment potentiated CHCl3-induced centrilobular necrosis and increased serum alanine amino transferase (ALT) activity by 20 times more than CHCl3 alone.